Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she’s at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past…

She has embraced her identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. But before she can reclaim her throne, she must fight.

She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die for her. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen’s triumphant return.

The fourth volume in the New York Times bestselling series continues Celaena’s epic journey and builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.

Lost and broken, Celaena Sardothien’s only thought is to avenge the savage death of her dearest friend: as the King of Adarlan’s Assassin, she is bound to serve this tyrant, but he will pay for what he did. Any hope Celaena has of destroying the king lies in answers to be found in Wendlyn. Sacrificing his future, Chaol, the Captain of the King’s Guard, has sent Celaena there to protect her, but her darkest demons lay in that same place. If she can overcome them, she will be Adarlan’s biggest threat – and his own toughest enemy.

While Celaena learns of her true destiny, and the eyes of Erilea are on Wendlyn, a brutal and beastly force is preparing to take to the skies. Will Celaena find the strength not only to win her own battles, but to fight a war that could pit her loyalties to her own people against those she has grown to love?

After breaking up with her bad-news boyfriend, Reagan O’Neill is ready to leave her rebellious ways behind. . . and her best friend, country superstar Lilah Montgomery, is nursing a broken heart of her own. Fortunately, Lilah’s 24-city tour is about to kick off, offering a perfect opportunity for a girls-only summer of break-up ballads and healing hearts. But when Matt Finch joins the tour as its opening act, his boy-next-door charm proves difficult for Reagan to resist, despite her vow to live a drama-free existence. This summer, Reagan and Lilah will navigate the ups and downs of fame and friendship as they come to see that giving your heart to the right person is always a risk worth taking. A fresh new voice in contemporary romance, Emery Lord’s gorgeous writing hits all the right notes.

Sixteen-year-old Holly wants to remember her Grandpa forever, but she’d rather forget what he left her in his will: his wedding chapel on the Las Vegas strip. Whatever happened to gold watches, savings bonds, or some normal inheritance?

And then there’s Grandpa’s letter. Not only is Holly running the business with her recently divorced parents, but she needs to make some serious money—fast. Grandpa also insists Holly reach out to Dax, the grandson of her family’s mortal enemy and owner of the cheesy chapel next door. No matter how cute Dax is, Holly needs to stay focused: on her group of guy friends, her disjointed family, work, school and… Dax. No wait, not Dax.

Holly’s chapel represents everything she’s ever loved in her past. Dax might be everything she could ever love in the future. But as for right now, there’s a wedding chapel to save.

I’m a little bit bummed about THE CHAPEL WARS, friends. I routinely look forward to Lindsey Leavitt’s books, ever since I read SEAN GRISWOLD’S HEAD, which remains one of the most surprisingly wonderful books I can recall reading ever. THE CHAPEL WARS had a great premise: Las Vegas, wedding chapels, a Romeo and Juliet-esque family feud. All super interesting, exciting things! And I suppose there were things about this book that lived up to the promise of awesomeness I saw in the synopsis, and I finished it, but mostly I was let down. And I hate using the line, “well, at least I finished it,” because that sounds awful. But…it fits. Bummer.

As I mentioned just before, THE CHAPEL WARSis about Holly. Her story begins with her beloved grandfather’s funeral and the subsequent reading of his will. He throws everyone—Holly included—for a loop by leaving her in charge of the family’s business, a wedding chapel off the strip. Holly and her now-divorced parents have been working the chapel for years, and for just as long (or longer), their chapel has been GOING AT IT with the chapel across the parking lot. Holly’s grandfather and the owner of the other chapel literally hated each other; the guy shows up at the funeral and TALKS SHIZZ about the dead person. I mean…doesn’t get worse than that. But now that Holly is left in charge of the chapel, she realizes how much work she’ll have to do to save her family’s lifeblood. Things in this arena are complicated by the cute, sweet grandson of the shizz-talking meanie, Dax.

One of my favorite aspects of THE CHAPEL WARS was the business. The wedding chapel angle was pretty fun. It’s not something I’ve ever encountered before, so I enjoyed the newness of it. And, come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve read many YA books that take place in Las Vegas, so getting to live in that place and see what life is like for the locals and not just the people who visit was also good fun. I’ve never been to Vegas, but I’ve seen movies. Somehow I think that doesn’t quite capture what life is actually like there. Talking about the wedding packages and the neon sign museum and the old casinos set the perfect atmosphere.

This is where I get to that part of my review where I try and figure out whether I actually liked things or didn’t like them so much. THE CHAPEL WARS was good enough. But there were also a number of things that didn’t capture my attention or my feelings or my interest. One of these mixed bags is, unfortunately, Holly herself. I liked her. I did. She’s going through a tough loss and is a high-schooler that literally has a REAL JOB. And not just any REAL JOB, but one that her entire family depends on. On top of this (yes, there’s more), she’s IN CHARGE of this incredibly important family business that is FAILING. Laying it all out here makes it seem a bit much, to be honest, but it sets up the main drama. Despite all of this, PLUS the romantic drama with Dax, I had a hard time connecting with Holly. She’s very type A and committed and fierce, which is great, but I couldn’t work up any real emotions about her or her situation. Which is ironic because Holly herself struggles mightily with feels. WAHH!

Speaking of Dax, he was adorable. Shady sometimes, but adorable. His relationship with Holly is inherently imperfect given the relationship between their families, and so they struggle with things on and off. When they’re on, they’re cute enough, but much like my feelings about Holly, I felt no tingly-butterflies-swoons for them. THIS IS SUCH A BUMMER. MAJOR SAD FACE. Not feeling swoons is pretty upsetting, friends. I wanted to! I wanted to swoon so badly! But one of my biggest issues with THE CHAPEL WARS is that my emotional connections to the characters were almost nonexistent, and that applies to the romance in a big way.

I’ve been trying to write this review without blatantly using the word (or whatever it is) “meh,” but that really is the best word/sound for my overall opinion of THE CHAPEL WARS. ALAS ALAS! There were great angles in Lindsey Leavitt’s book that I wish we got more time with, particularly some issues with Holly’s family and her little brother. That was some meaty stuff, but we didn’t get as much of it as I would’ve liked. I also had a hard time believing that Holly could be an excellent, full-time high-school student as well as THE BOSS of an epically struggling business. Holly had some great friends, and they helped things along, but I also thought there was a lot more to be mined from Dax and his background. Basically I saw glimpses of awesome things, but got big scoopfuls of other stuff instead.

All in all, I expected better from THE CHAPEL WARS because I know that Lindsey Leavitt has done better, at least in my reading of her books. This doesn’t make me want to stop looking forward to new things from her, though. Not by any means. Everyone has some blips in the radar, right? Unfortunately, for me, THE CHAPEL WARS was just that.

Summary: Stolen as a child from her large and loving family, and on the run with her mom for more than ten years, Callie has only the barest idea of what normal life might be like. She’s never had a home, never gone to school, and has gotten most of her meals from laundromat vending machines. Her dreams are haunted by memories she’d like to forget completely. But when Callie’s mom is finally arrested for kidnapping her, and Callie’s real dad whisks her back to what would have been her life, in a small town in Florida, Callie must find a way to leave the past behind. She must learn to be part of a family. And she must believe that love–even with someone who seems an improbable choice–is more than just a possibility.

Trish Doller writes incredibly real teens, and this searing story of love, betrayal, and how not to lose your mind will resonate with readers who want their stories gritty and utterly true.

An assassin’s loyalties are always in doubt. But her heart never wavers.

After a year of hard labor in the Salt Mines of Endovier, eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien has won the king’s contest to become the new royal assassin. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown – a secret she hides from even her most intimate confidantes.Keeping up the deadly charade—while pretending to do the king’s bidding—will test her in frightening new ways, especially when she’s given a task that could jeopardize everything she’s come to care for. And there are far more dangerous forces gathering on the horizon — forces that threaten to destroy her entire world, and will surely force Celaena to make a choice.

Where do the assassin’s loyalties lie, and who is she most willing to fight for?

When Mallory’s boyfriend, Jeremy, cheats on her with an online girlfriend, Mallory decides the best way to de-Jeremy her life is to de-modernize things too. Inspired by a list of goals her grandmother made in1962, Mallory swears off technology and returns to a simpler time (when boyfriends couldn’t cheat with computer avatars).

The List:
1. Run for pep club secretary
2. Host a fancy dinner party/soiree
3. Sew a dress for Homecoming
4. Find a steady
5. Do something dangerous
But simple proves to be crazy-complicated, and the details of the past begin to change Mallory’s present. Add in a too-busy grandmother, a sassy sister, and the cute pep-club president–who just happens to be her ex’s cousin–and soon Mallory begins to wonder if going vintage is going too far.

Being a 16-year-old safecracker and active-duty daughter of international spies has its moments, good and bad. Pros: Seeing the world one crime-solving adventure at a time. Having parents with super cool jobs. Cons: Never staying in one place long enough to have friends or a boyfriend. But for Maggie Silver, the biggest perk of all has been avoiding high school and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple locker combinations.

Then Maggie and her parents are sent to New York for her first solo assignment, and all of that changes. She’ll need to attend a private school, avoid the temptation to hack the school’s security system, and befriend one aggravatingly cute Jesse Oliver to gain the essential information she needs to crack the case . . . all while trying not to blow her cover.

ME is Evelyn Jones, 16, a valedictorian hopeful who’s been playing bad girl to piss off THEM, her cold, distant parents. HIM is Todd, Evelyn’s secret un-boyfriend, who she thought she was just using for sex – until she accidentally fell in love with him. But before Evelyn gets a chance to tell Todd how she feels, something much more important comes up. IT. IT is a fetus. Evelyn is pregnant – and when Todd turns his back on her, Evelyn has no idea who to turn to. Can a cheating father, a stiff, cold mother, a pissed-off BFF, and a (thankfully!) loving aunt with adopted girls of her own help Evelyn make the heart-wrenching decisions that follow?

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king’s council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her… but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best. Then one of the other contestants turns up dead… quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

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